Tom Cotton, the Arkansas senator who serves on the armed services committee, was more forthright in his praise: "I commend President-elect Trump for his conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen, which reaffirms our commitment to the only democracy on Chinese soil," he said in a statement.

Pete King, the hawkish Republican congressman, concurred.

"Plaudits to President-elect Trump for his historic phone call to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. Strong message to China. New day in Asia," he wrote on Twitter.

But while some lauded what they saw as an historic achievement, others sought to downplay the conversation.

Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary to George W Bush, expressed alarm after the call, saying he "wasn't even allowed to refer to the government 'of' Taiwan" during his time in the White House, but was instead instructed to say government "on" Taiwan.

"So long as Trump called knowing it would change the status quo, I'm fine with it," he said. "I hope it was by design."

The consensus among many Democrats was that Mr Trump did not understand the ramifications of his calls to the president of Taiwan, as well as the leaders of Pakistan and the Philippines.

Chris Murphy, the Connecticut senator, said Mr Trump's "radical temporary deviations" from established US policies would weaken America's alliances and could lead to war.